HAPPY NEW YEAR

Good morning everyone;
I made this card for a special person, who shall remain nameless as she drops by my blog from time to time...lol.

This adorable stamp is "Father Time and baby New Year" from High Hopes.

I embossed the image in black and painted it with Tombows. I used my nesties for the back of the image and the sentiment. I added white flocking to his beard and hair. I used glossy accents on the clock face. I also added some stickles. The bottom of the dp has been punched with my Martha border punch.

Hope you like it.

I would like to wish all of you a

Very Happy and Healthy New Year !!

" 2009 "

Thank You everyone for dropping by and leaving such wonderful comments. I really appreciate them.

Have a great day!
See you again in 2009.

KAREN

SENDING HUGS...

Hello everyone;
I finally have some time to sit down and get back to blogging. What a busy week it has been. It's so nice to visit with family and friends....but I must be showing my age, as it is exhausting. I'm sure I missed a lot of fabulous creations, but I will be getting around today to see whats new with all of you. I had a great holiday, I hope you all did too!


I made this card for a friend who is still a little under the weather. I love this image from Inky Antics. The sentiment is from Hero arts.

I embossed the image with black and painted it with Tombows. Of course I added some stickles. It truly wouldn't be my card if it wasn't a little crooked and didn't have any stickles. LOL


I hope you all have a great day....and thanks for stopping by.


KAREN

WE WISH YOU A.........

MERRY CHRISTMAS and A VERY HAPPY and HEALTHY NEW YEAR.





Thanks to all of you for visiting our blog this year and for all the fabulous comments you have left. Our blog is only 6 months old and we have made so many wonderful friends. Your visits mean so much......

LOVE TO YOU ALL

and

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

Karen is taking a little break and since I have done so little on the blog (Karen's been giving my butt the boot), I thought I would put on a couple of christmas cards. I hope to spend a little more time checking out everyone's blog and posting to our blog and website in the new year (my New Years' Resolution).
The angel card (Angel from Stampendous) is done with metallic gold and metallic white cardstock and lots of stickles. I popped up their wings and added some ribbon and embellishments.
The fishing Santa is from High Hopes and he is watercoloured (of course) and has stickles too. I found the paper with the fish on it in a box of scraps I have had for ages.
Hope everyone has a very Happy Holiday!!

My Daughter, My Heart

Well, I am finally finished everything...Whew! I didn't think I would make it. This last week has been so very busy. I am going to take a break and get around to all your blogs tonight, I know I have missed so much.

This card is the last of the cards I have been making for my friend. The stamps are from Suzy Toronto. These cards are oversize and I didn't want to squish the bows, so I used my Topscore multiboard to make boxes for them.



I embossed the image with black and painted them with Tombows. I used the flower border stamp with black Stazon for the background. I also used some stickles. I punched and layered the little flowers.



I love the verse in this card.....another weepy one.
I used black Stazon for the sentiment and I cut out the hearts and layered them.

I hope you like it.
Thanks for stopping by...

KAREN

MINI ACCORDIAN CARD

Hi everyone;

I hope you are all having a great hump day. These days are going way too fast for me. This is my first Valentine card for this year, so I guess I am ahead of the game.



This card is made from 1 piece measured 4 X 12. You score it at 2", 5" and 8". I also added a piece to the back that is 5 1/8 X5 1/8. The rest is up to you....I had so many ideas for this card, I almost drove myself crazy.
I am very sure I will be making a lot more of them. I love fancy folds and cards that move.



I embossed all the images with black and painted them with Tombows. I used my cb embossing folder Paisley and on the back layer I used my cb embossing borders. I also added some stickles.

I hope you like it.
Thanks for stopping by...

Karen

Penguins, penguins, everywhere....!

Hello everyone...

I just had to share this with you today...
As our kids are growing up, we never know if they are really listening to us or even have an eye on what we are doing. Well this just goes to show you they are watching and listening to us.
For the last couple of months my oldest daughter Chelle has been making cakes for her friends. She has no formal training, she has just been checking out the internet. I must say I am so impressed by her creations...especially this one she made today for a pot luck dinner tonight. Is this not adorable!!!
The penguins and trees are all made by hand out of fondant icing.



She is always telling me.."I'm not creative like you..Mom".
Well that is just not true. I think the apple does not fall too far from this tree.

Just when you least expect it...our kids shock the heck out of us..I love it.

Chelle has started her own blog, so if you are interested in taking a look at her other creations, you can find them here

Thanks for stopping by
KAREN

She who is my daughter....

Good morning everyone;
I hope you all had a good weekend. It was a very busy one for me. I am still working on decorating my tree and so far their are 5 ornaments on it....lol. I think I will finish it today.

My friend asked me to make her Suzy Toronto cards, one for each of her daughters. They have the same image but each has a different verse. I have colored them totally different according to the girls favorite colors.
This card today, her favorite colors are earthtones. Well...these images need to be bright(in my opinion) so this is what I came up with.



I embossed the image in black and painted it with Tombows. I also added some stickles. I used my CB embossing edges on the dp. I used a punch to make the flower.

Suzy Toronto has the most beautiful, bring tears to your eyes verses. When we were going through the catalogue trying to decide what to order ...can you picture three hormonal women bawling over these verses. It was not a pretty picture. LOL

So this is the inside of the card.



I hope you like it.
Have a great day and thanks for stopping by.....

Karen x

A very sad day....

Today was a very sad day with the loss of a wonderful blogging friend Joanne Johnson.
I will miss the sweet comments she left for me on my posts each day.

Carolyn has a beautiful tribute to Joanne on her blog with contact info for her family. Please read Carolyn's post. Heaven has a new angel

Thanks for stopping by
Karen x

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

I managed to find some time tonight to make this card. This is my card for the One Stop Craft Challenge. The challenge this week is something blue.





I had bought this paper in the fall and forgot that I had it. Are they not the cutest little penguins?
I had this penguin stamp from a set I purchased last year from Inkadinkado.
I stamped the image with black stazon and embossed it with clear. I used a punch for the edges on the bottom. I also used my nestabilities. There are NO stickles!! LOL It was a very quick card and at this time of year... quick is good!!

Hope you like it.
KAREN

HO HO HO!

Good morning everyone.
As I was making this card last night, it started to snow. We didn't get too much, just enough to make everything bright and sparkling. Maybe that was my inspiration for this crazy card!! This is one of those cards that you really don't know what you want...but keep going anyway to see what happens. And this is what happened...lol! I get a chuckle everytime I look at it.

This is my card for the HHC#11.
I embossed the image with black and painted it with Tombows. I used a punch for the flowers and leaves. I added a clear dew drop for the centers. I stamped the HO with stazon onto metallic gold paper and used a K&co clear sticker on top. I also added lots of stickles!
Hope you like it.

Have a great day!!
Karen

SNOWMAN ALBUM

Hi everyone;
I hope you are all having a great weekend. I have been tying up some loose ends with my Christmas cards and gifts.



This is one of the little albums I made. It can be used for photos, recipes or whatever. The snowman is one of my favorite sets form Darcie's.
I embossed the snowman and all the images inside in black and painted them all with Tombows. I cut out some extra holly for the hat. I also added some stickles.

This pic is the first page of the album. The dp is also from Darcie's.

The next pic is just one of the inside pages. The image is from Penny Black. I used my Zutter bind-it-all to put it all together.




Hope you like it.
Karen

Spirelli Noel

Good morning everyone....
Well this week went by so fast, its incredible. I did manage to get a few things done...so I don't feel too bad. Layla, my beautiful dog, and boss of the house!! is under the weather, she has come down with some severe allergies and we are trying to figure out what they are. Poor little girl is scratching so bad and 3 medications later...we are hoping they will help. We spent 2 hours at the vet yesterday, but she did get a new toy for her troubles.

I am working on some quick christmas cards and I remembered I had done one like this in a workshop at the church in September.
I embossed the letters with silver and cut them out and layered them. I made the spirelli with 3 different color threads to replace the "O". I shortened the front of the card and added the 2 layers of pinked edging. I also inked the edges of the card with chateau grey and watermarked the black background. I was disappointed in the picture as you can't see the watermark or the edges.
So there you have it, easy peasy quick card!!

Have a great weekend
Karen

Pergamano ornaments

Good morning everyone.
I can't believe it is Thursday already. I hope you are all having a good week so far. Mine has been very busy as I have been preparing my Pregamano ornaments for a class this Saturday. I love doing Pergamano....it takes a lot of time, but the end result is usually very rewarding.




These are 2 of the ornaments from a set of 4. They are done in two separate pieces and the they are pierced up the middle and fitted into each other for the 3D effect. The nice thing about these is that you can emboss and pierce them any way you want. With so many new piercing tools, the possibilities are endless. On the angel I used my regular grid and pierced the holes in her dress and then cut between the holes with my tiny pregamano scissors.
On the snowflake I embossed some areas and then used my diagonal grid to pierce the holes.
If you click on each pic you will get a better look at the piercing designs.




I hope you like them
Have a great day!

Karen

Cookie exchange

Congratulations to Sharon on 1 million hits on her blog.
She is celebrating at Party Central with blog candy and challenges all week. Janine at
2bkrafty hosted the first challenge with a cookie exchange. My daughter and I made cookies tonight for her cookie exchange at her work, so we made a few more for Janine's challenge.
This is the recipe for our Almond Wreath Cookies and the box I made to put them in. Also the tag from the pocket on the box. I made the box from a template and dp from Darcie's. I added the pocket to the front to hold the recipe card.



ALMOND WREATH COOKIES

These are the cookies we made tonight. They cookie itself is not green...they have been glazed with green icing. They are absolutley delicious....trust me I ate enough to know!! It is the first time we have made this cookie but I am adding it to my cookbook.


Here is the full recipe.....



Happy Baking
Karen

Award

Thank you Tasha for giving me this beautiful award. Tasha has a fabulous blog...so go on over and check out her great cards.
I would like to pass this award on to
Pat
Nancy
Jamie
Theresa
Laurie

You all do beautiful work and deserve this award too!
Karen x

METAL MADNESS

Hi everyone.
I hope everyone had a great Monday. I can't believe it is Dec.1 already. Wow, time flies when you're having fun!!

This is my card for the High Hopes Challenge #10. The theme for this challenge is metal madness.
I embossed the cute little dragon, Albert with black and painted him with Tombows. I used my nestabilites labels die to cut the metal. I also added some stickles.

Thanks for stopping by,
Karen

SANTA ORNAMENT

Good morning everyone. I hope you are all having a great weekend. We are expecting a lot of snow this afternoon, if the forecast is right. It is very hard to forecast the weather in Southwestern Ontario because of the lakes...so hopefully they will be wrong again!! LOL

I am still working on Christmas cards and projects, I hope to be done soon. This is an ornament I made last night. This is a great AGW stamp, the shape seems to be just right for an ornament. I embossed the image with black and painted it with Tombows. I used some liquid applique on the beard and pom-pom. I also used a lot of stickles on the hair and fur on the hat. I glued it all onto a 3.5" round stampboard.
I was pleased with the way it turned out, I hope you like it.
Take care
KAREN x

PRECIOUS MOMENTS

What a busy week this has been. I finally got a chance to sit down, so I thought I would share a card.

I received 2 new stamps this week by Sarah Kay....and what beautiful stamps they are!! The fine detail of these stamps is just amazing. When I was done painting it I couldn't decide how to layer the card up. While I was visiting Rach's blog I noticed a wonderful sketch from Our Creative Corner Challenge. Anyone can play along so here I go. There are some fabulous challenges, by some very talented artists out there in blogland ladies...so get busy and join in.

I stamped the image with Stazon black onto watercolor paper, and I painted it with Tombows. I also added some stickles. I cut out the 2 little flowers on her hat and layered them with some silicone. The DP is from DCWV-the glitter mat stack.
I hope you like it.

Have a great day!
KAREN

3 Pane Santa

Hi everyone!
I hope you are all having a good week so far. Some of you must be very busy getting ready for Thanksgiving. We in Canada celebrate in Oct. so we are busy getting ready for Christmas. Its getting closer...30 days and counting....

My card today is "3 Pane Santa" from High Hopes.
I had never done a waterfall card so this one is a team effort between Cathy and I. I embossed the images with black and painted them with Tombows. I cut them out and glued them to red cs and frayed some mulberry paper and added them to black cs. Cathy did all the folding and constructed the card and then we put it all together. (I did the easy part...lol) I really like the way it turned out...this adorable stamp is perfect for the waterfall card!!
I hope you like it.

Have a great day
Karen x

High Hopes Challenge

Hello everyone;
I hope everyone's Monday is going well. The weather here is not the greatest, its raining and cold, but what can ya do! Make a cup of hot tea and create a card of two.

This is the card I made for the HHC.
I embossed the image with black and painted it with Tombows. I sponged the oval behind the kitty with Versa magic and stamped the ornament onto the background with Perfect medium. The sentiment was printed onto acetate with a Sakura white pen. I punched the flowers and last but not least...the famous stickles. What would my cards be without them...lol.
I hope you like it.

Have a great day!!
Karen

AWARD

This blog invests and believes the PROXIMITY-nearness
in space, time and relationships! These blogs are
exceedingly charming. These kind blogger's aim to find
and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-
aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of
these prizes are cut, even more friendships are
propagated. Please give more attention to the writers!
Deliver this award to eight blogger's who must choose
eight more and include this cleverly- written text into the
body of the award.



My wonderful blogging friends, Sharon and Pat gave me this elegant award yesterday. Thank you so much, Sharon and Pat.
I am just beside myself trying to figure out who to pass it on to as I have met some wonderful, creative and friendly people through my blog. I know a lot of you have this award already....so to all my friends who drop by and leave such sweet comments for me, I would like to pass this award on to you. Be sure to post it for all to see as you really deserve it too!!

Have a great day, everyone
Karen

Parchment Craft Snowflake

Well, did we ever get a ton of snow last night!! It was so beautiful this morning all sparkling in the sun, so I thought I would share a snowflake card with you today!

This card is made from parchment paper. It is also called Pergamano. I traced the image with white ink and a mapping pen. I turned it over onto a embossing mat and embossed the snowflake and some of the border. With a 1 needle tool I stippled (pierced) the inner border. If you look close you can see all the little holes. I used a 2 needle tool around the outside to make the edge. I made the inner card (blue) with a 5 needle tool. I taped them together between the last 2 layers.

I hope you like it
Have a great day
Karen

POINTSETTIA

Well, here we are and it is Friday already! I can't believe how fast these days are going. Lets see.....34 days til Christmas. I have been frantically working on my Christmas cards these past few days and I bet I'm not the only one!

This card is one of the cards from the watercolor workshop we held last weekend. We all had a great time and the ladies created some awesome cards!
This stamp is a set from Darcie's. I stamped and embossed with black 2 of each flower. I painted them with Tombows and cut them out and layered them. I used stickles for the flower centers.

Have a great day everyone and thanks for stopping by.
KAREN

One Stop Craft Challenge

Hi everyone;
I hope you are all having a great week so far. It has been snowing on and off for a couple of days, but we are supposed to get a lot more. I hope the forecast is wrong!!

This is my card for the OSCC this week. The challenge is pretty petals.
This is a Penny Black stamp. I embossed it with black and I painted it with Tombows. I stamped the image twice and cut out the petals and layered them. I also added some stickles. The fab background paper is from Darcie's.
Hope you like it!

Take care
Karen

AWARD

What a great surprise I had today! Nikki @ Bunny-Zoe's blog has given me this award. THANK YOU so much Nikki!!

I must choose 5 people to pass this award onto. So here goes...
Pat
Rach
Linda
Niki
Nancy

I Thank you all for all your visits and the wonderful comments you leave
Karen

ANIMALS with HATS

Hi everyone;
I thought I would share with you a couple of Christmas cards I made. Both of the stamps are from Stamps by Judith.
This image was embossed with black and painted with Tombows. I stamped the paw prints with versa fine. I stamped,painted and cut out the hat and layered it onto the dog. I also added some stickles.(I am not to fond of masking..I'd rather cut)lol


This is such a cute stamp. I embossed this baggy elephant with black and painted it with Tombows. I stamped and cut out the holly for his trunk. The holly is also a Judith stubby. I embossed, painted and cut out the hat and layered onto the elephant. It too has stickles.

Hope you like them
Have a great day, everyone.
Karen

High Hopes Challenge #8

Hi everyone;
What a way to start a Monday morning....its snowing like mad here!! Huge snowflakes coming down, I guess my card will fit right in. This is my card for the HHC this week. The theme was buttons and brads.
I stamped the black card with HO and white versa color. I embossed the image and the holly with black and painted it with Tombows. I used liquid applique for the cuffs and trim and used flocking on santa's hair and beard. I used my new cb folder edges for the edge with the brads. I also added some stickles.
Hope you like it
Have a great day!
Karen

HIDDEN MESSAGE

Hi everyone.
This is my card for the One Stop Craft Challenge. The challenge is a hidden message card.
This card was made with a metal template, similar to a brass stencil. I used the holly cb folder for the front. I sponged it with gold brilliance. I embossed some swirls with gold onto the tree, and painted it with Tombows. I also added some stickles.
Hope you like it.
Karen

Stair Step Card

Well, I have been just itching to try this stair step card. I think they are the greatest idea! I had a lot of fun making mine. I have seen some pretty amazing ones over at SCS. This is the type of card where your imagination can run wild!!

I tore some super thick muberry paper for the steps. I used vellum that is printed to look like the sky for the background. I embossed all the images with black and painted them with Tombows. I also added some stickles. I cut them all out and now for the fun part.....placing them where you want them to go. I used some little pieces of folded painters tape on the back of all the pieces and kept moving them until I liked how it looked.

Hope you like it!
Have a great day,
Karen

High Hopes Challenge #7

Good morning everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend!

This is my card for the HHC #7...Sparklemania.
Right up my alley, as you all know how I love to use stickles.
This is a Diamond fold card, from Scor-pal. I used paper from DCWV, Once upon a time series. I embossed the image with black and painted it with Tombows. Then of course I added lots of stickles.
Have a great day
KAREN

DAMASK FLORAL

Hi everyone,
This stamp is from Impression Obsession. I stamped the leaves onto the card with Perfect medium. I embossed the images with gold and painted them with Tombows. I layered the images onto some mirri paper and added these pearl brads. I was pleased with the way it turned out. Hope you like it.
Take care
Karen

An Award from Sharon

My wonderful blogging friend..Sharon has passed on this award to me. What a nice suprise. I am so grateful to be nominated by Sharon. Stop by Sharon's blog and be prepared to be totally inspired by her fabulous creations.
Thank you so much, Sharon.

The rules for passing this award along are:
1) the winner may put this award on their blog.
2)Put a link to the person who sent this award to you.
3)Nominate 5 blogs.
4)Put links to their blogs.
5)Leave a message for your nominees. Choose only 5.

My nominees are:
Joanne-stamps4sanity
Lauri-paperville
Curt-Curtsplayhouse
Jakki-angeljakki
Theresa-craftingtheweb


Have a great day everyone.
KAREN

Baby cards

Hi everyone.
I thought I would share a couple of baby cards I made this week. The first one is from Impression Obsession. I used the baby cb folder for the background. I painted the shoes with tombows and I painted over them with icicle H2O's. I stamped the bow a second time and layered it onto the shoes.


















This next card is a wallet template. The stamp is from High Hopes. I embossed the image with black and painted it with tombows. I inked the edges with Versa magic. I also added some stickles. The birth announcement is from Stamps by Judith.
I hope you like them. Have a great day.
Karen

ATC SWAP

Good morning everyone. These are the ATC's from our first meeting this week. A group of super talented ladies are getting together once a month for our ATC swap. Most of the group has never done atc's before, but as you can see they really pulled it off. From embroidery, beading, painting, stickers, spirelli, we got it all. I think they did a fabulous job!! BRAVO LADIES!! I can't wait until our next meeting to see what everyone will come up with.





I also want to share with you a card I received this morning from my sweet friend Curt. I just love this card...thank you so much, Curt. He was getting a little anxious as it took so long to get to me...but I reminded him Canadian mail is still being delivered by dog sled. LOL
Have a great day everyone!
KAREN

WARM WISHES

I am still having fun with my new High Hopes stamps! I couldn't resist this guy.
I embossed the image with black and painted it with Tombows. I embossed the Happy Birthday and the footprints onto acetate, with black. I also added some stickles.
Have a great day!!
Karen